February 2010

Loads on interesting stuff on this site apart from the review. While browsing around i came across this project called ‘sonicWarfare’.

“Heidi Boisvert’s sonicWarfare hands listeners a map of midtown Manhattan, overlaid by a semi-transparent map of the section of Baghdad where U.S. troops invaded in 2002. You follow a route on the map while listening to a recording of an imaginary war – the intended effect is to make conflict seem real, even personal: “Protest in Vietnam was mobilized by images, but today images of war barbarity do not pose the same disgust, disquiet. We have become inured by the spectacle of violence paraded on TV and in movies. Why though when you see war reportage on the news are we not forced to endure the sounds of war? Is it harder to bear the pain of others through our ears … ? ”

Also just when we thought the police were putting all their eggs in the high frequency basket, enter the Rumbler:

According to the manufacturers, the Rumbler “The Rumbler introduces a revolutionary new concept to audible warning. This system has the ability to interact with 100/200-watt siren amplifiers and provide secondary, low frequency duplicate tones. Low frequency tones have the distinct advantage of penetrating and shaking solid materials allowing vehicle operators and nearby pedestrians to FEEL the sound waves, and perhaps even see their effects through a shaking rearview mirror.”